The proposed program of training in cardiovascular surgery research is multidisciplinary in that NIH funded cardiothoracic surgeons, cardiologists, epidemiologists and basic scientists will make up the faculty. Faculty were recruited from not only Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, but also from the other Harvard Hospitals, Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health and other Affiliated Institutions. The faculty were chosen in large part based on their prior record of training research fellows and their reputation as academic physicians and scientists. Opportunities are available for basic and clinical research in the areas of vascular physiology and molecular biology, cardiac physiology and molecular and cellular biology, transplantation immunology, tissue engineering, cardiac pathology, and clinical outcomes research. The program is administered by the Program Director (Dr Sellke) and the Steering Committee and is carried on in close relationship to active clinical services. In addition, formal and informal course work and seminars are made available, depending on the research fellow needs. Trainees (4 each year) are appointed for a 2 year term beginning after the third year of surgical training. Trainees are assigned to one of many active laboratories directed by the faculty. Trainees select the laboratory and mentor of choice for their laboratory training, with advice from and ongoing monitoring of progress by the Program Director and faculty. Following completion of their research training, fellows will complete their surgical residency, and then be expected to complete a residency in cardiothoracic surgery. It is anticipated that this program in cardiovascular surgery research training will help the specialty continue to train outstanding academic surgeons in times of financial, clinical, and educational uncertainty.